There is great interest in chemotherapies for relapsed or refractory lymphomas that are both directly effective against the lymphoma and able to mobilize PBSCs for rescue after high-dose chemotherapy (HDC). Twenty-eight patients with relapsed or refractory lymphomas were treated with a shortened, intensified MJMA regimen (mitoxantrone 10 mg/m(2) i.v. day 1, carboplatin 200 mg/m(2) i.v. days 1-2, methylprednisolone 500 mg/m(2) i.v. days 1-3, cytarabine 2000 mg/m(2) i.v. day 3) for six cycles every 21 days. A median of five cycles/patient was administered. Nineteen patients had complete responses, seven partial responses and two no responses. The only remarkable toxicity was hematological. In 18 patients who were candidates for HDC, a mean of 10.45 x 10(6) CD34/kg of patients' body weight was collected (range: 3.70-24.88 x 10(6)/kg). Eleven patients underwent transplantation, which converted two of four partial responses into complete responses. The median follow-up was 49 months. Survival parameters were not related to relapsed/refractory status or to the time from the last chemotherapy, but were related only weakly to the number of prior chemotherapies. Outpatient MJMA is a feasible and very effective salvage chemotherapy per se. The complete response rate is high and it is a powerful PBSC mobilizer.